The present invention relates to a container having an injection needle-detaching means for containing used injection needles. More particularly, the present invention relates to a container for detaching a used needle from a syringe with safety without touching the needle with finger and containing the detached needle directly therein.
The container of the present invention is applicable to a slip type needle. The slip type needle is one wherein a needle has a hub with a plain inner surface and the hub is simply forced to be put on the nozzle portion of a syringe that has a plain outer surface.
Conventionally, the injection needle was detached from the syringe by simply pulling out it with holding the hub thereof with fingers. At the first glance, such detaching operation appears to be easy. However, an accident that finger is injured with the needle inevitably happens when the same person repeats the needle-detaching operation several tens times or more a day.
Recently diseases infectious through blood such as viral hepatitis and acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome (AIDS) have increased rapidly. For the reason, it is important that persons who are engaged in test for the diseases and treatment of the diseases get out of direct touch with the blood of patients.
However, when a used needle is detached from a syringe in the conventional manner, there is a great possibility that a person gets hurt in the finger with the needle and the blood attached to the needle is entered into the body of the person through the wound so that the person is infected with the above-mentioned disease.
Accordingly, there is a demand for a means of detaching the needle from the syringe without touching the needle with finger.
With respect to blood-drawing needle which generally has two needles extending in the opposed directions from the hub, a needle-receiving container in compliance with the demand is proposed, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,466,538. The container is provided with a slot which has a large width at one end and is narrowed toward the other end. A blood-drawing needle attached to a syringe is inserted into the wide portion of the slot and then moved toward the narrow portion, thereby catching the hub of the needle between both the side walls of the narrow portion. When the syringe is turned in such a state, the engagement between the syringe and the needle is loosened, so that the needle falls into the container.
However, the container has a drawback that since the hub of the needle is firmly caught between the side walls when the syringe is turned, the needle tends to remain in that position without falling into the container and the operator gets hurt in the finger with the needle when he touches the needle to remove the caught needle.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a container capable of detaching a slip type needle from a syringe with an easy operation without touching the needle with finger and containing the detached needle directly therein.
This and other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the description hereinafter.